The Best Green Apps Out There

While our smart phones may get a bad rap for not being the most eco-friendly made products on the market today (not going to argue that), they aren’t entirely all bad. In fact, with the plethora of “green apps” available for users today, they can enable anyone and everyone to make greener and smarter choices on everything from where to take your recycling to the best recipes for your local and seasonal produce! Here are my Top 10 Favorites.

1) Find Green

Find every local green business around you and see how they’re rated by the locals. Whether you need to grab a bite to eat, pick up a new tool for the shop or hit the local yoga gym, you’ll have access to over 60,000 listings categorized by industry, type and distance. Check “walking or biking distance” to go even greener. I like it for home use but love it for traveling.

2) PedNav

Take PedNav with you wherever you go as your very own super green, super smart travel planner! Punch in everything you must do: hit up Café Nova, grab groceries downtown, drop off your recycling and catch the late night movie. Then sit back and relax as PedNav creates an itinerary for you complete with time ordered listings and the best means of transportation to get you there. It’ll take into consideration your schedule, the most eco-friendly options of transportation (bus/trains/etc.) and get you there without wasting time or covering unnecessary traveling distance.

Get the local dirt on all the best, freshest produce grown near your GPS coordinates with a constantly updated listing according to what’s in season! Add to that awesome seasonal recipes; chats with locals about what they ate and where; search and find who’s selling what where; and the latest info on the nearest farms and farmers markets with their contact info. If you wanna go local (at home and on vacay) go Locavore.

4) iRecycle

Created by Earth911 to give you the most up-to-date information on over 800,000 recycling and disposal centers for over 240 materials. Check what you want to recycle (automotive, batteries, construction, electronics, garden, glass, hazardous, household, metal, pain, paper, plastic, etc.) and it will tell you where you need to go, when they’re open and if you need to do anything extra.

5) Farmers Market Finder

While you can find farmers markets on Locavore, the Farmers Market Finder takes it a step further and includes CSAs, open markets and U-Picks (my favorite!). With over 2,500 entries, you’ll get all the contact info you need and current info on parking, weather cancellations and what’s ready to eat.

Ready to take your shopping to a whole new level? The GoodGuide app is one of my all time, no-one-should-live-without recommendations. It actually scans the barcode of the product in question and provides you with instant ratings for health of the product and the environment and social responsibility of the company! Over 100,000 products and companies in the database already. It also lets you make a shopping list for future reference.

Handy-dandy going green tip comes up every time you open this app. Learn ideas you haven’t thought of/considered before and share them with your friends.

8) Carbon Tracker

The GPS will enable you to track your daily carbon use per day and change or update your traveling patterns accordingly. If you’re seeking ways to use less emission, especially for work and travel, this will be extremely useful.

9) Shop Green

Find the best deals with personalized promotions from all your local green businesses by entering in data about your lifestyle and green habits. While we all love getting good deals, it’s that much better when they’re all in line with what our preferences and likes are.

10) Green Gas Saver

If you’re serious about cutting down your gas consumption, you can download the Green Gas Saver app and it will help keep you on track when it comes to techniques to save gas. It will warn you and sound an alarm when you do things that use more gas than necessary, like accelerating too quickly or giving too much gas when turning and parking.

Freelance author Jocelyn Anne writes on a daily basis about the latest trends when it comes to eco-friendly and sustainable living. She is currently researching the greenest ways to use a portable air conditioner within the office setting.